Boston Teamsters indicted for 'hurling racist abuse' at Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi

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Padma Lakshmi and Top Chef crew 'abused for two weeks in Boston'
Group of union members 'repeatedly hurled racist and sexist abuse' at them because the Bravo show for using non-union drivers to film
On Wednesday, five of the Teamsters were indicted with felony extortion
US Attorney Carmen Ortiz said they used 'old-school thug tactics'

Published: 11:39 EST, 30 September 2015 | Updated: 13:45 EST, 30 September 2015

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A group of Teamsters have been charged with extortion for allegedly hurling racist, homophobic and sexist abuse at Top Chef's TV crew, including host Padma Lakshmi.

The union members are accused of repeatedly ambushing Lakshmi and her co-workers over a two-week period while they filmed in Boston last year.

It came after the show's producers, Magical Elves, declined to hire Teamsters members as drivers as they had their own staff to do the job.

Now, five men allegedly involved in the high-profile picketing have been charged with federal extortion, with US Attorney Carmen Ortiz slamming their 'old-school thug tactics' that reflect 'poorly on our city'.

Padma Lakshmi was allegedly one of the Top Chef crew subjected to racist and sexist abuse in Boston last year. She is pictured, left, during a Boston episode of Top Chef and, right, at the recent Emmy Awards

'A group of rogue Teamsters employed old-school thug tactics to get no-work jobs from an out of town production company,' Ortiz said in a statement. 'They managed to chase a legitimate business out of the City of Boston and then harassed the cast and crew when they set up shop in Milton.'

'This kind of conduct reflects poorly on our city and must be addressed for what it is – not union organizing, but criminal extortion.'

The men are identified in court papers obtained by the Boston Globe as Mark Harrington, 61, John Fidler, 51, Daniel Redmond, 47, Robert Cafarelli, 45, and Richard Jeffrey, 55.

They were slated to appear in federal court on Wednesday afternoon.

The indictment states: 'Harrington and another official warned the producer that if Company A did not make a deal with Local 25, they would start to follow them and picket.'

A dozen or so picketers from Boston's Teamsters Local 25 picketed filming at the Steel & Rye restaurant in the New England town of Milton, just outside Boston, in June 2014.

A Top Chef crew-member told Deadline last year that everyone associated with filming – including Indian-born host and judge Padma - was subjected to vile abuse over a two-week period.

When a car ferrying 43-year-old Padma to the first day of the shoot pulled up outside the restaurant, one of the picketers ran up to her car and screamed, 'We're gonna bash that pretty face in, you f***ing w**re!'

'She was scared,' said the unnamed crew-member. 'He was screaming at her aggressively and violently.'

'As any employee of our show walked on or off set, the picketers verbally attacked us, calling the gays 'f*gs,' the blacks 'n*****s' and most of the women 'sl*ts and w**res,' the crew-member told Deadline.

A dozen or so picketers from Boston's Teamsters Local 25 were angry that production company Magical Elves had decided not hire them to drive cast and crew vehicles

Padma is both host and judge on Top Chef (left) and said she had been scared during the confrontation by Teamsters members (not pictured in this stock image, right)

Police were called to the disturbance and immediately radioed for backup.

Milton's Deputy Police Chief John King described the Teamsters as 'hostile, swearing, and refusing to let people come in and out. Officers repeatedly tried to de-escalate the situation.'

As well as hurling abuse and being intimidating, the union members also slashed the tires on 14 cars owned by the crew - and many also had their antennae broken off, said King.

The employees were subject to further abuse for two whole weeks of filming Season 12, which screened in October 2014. No one was injured and no one was arrested.

Season 13, which screens this fall, was filmed in California.

The Teamsters boasts on its website that it is 'North America's strongest and most diverse labor union', with 1.4million members. The indicted members are from the Charleston-based Teamsters Local 25 group, according to the Boston Globe.